The art of skating
by enthusiasticwriter
Summary: A small one-shot where John and Dave go roller skating together.


Roller skating AU

((mentions of blood near the end.))

((I do not own any of the characters of Homestuck

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"Thanks dad!"

John waved as the white sedan drove away into the night leaving John and Dave standing outside what Dave thought to be the shadiest roller rink he had ever pavement beneath them was cracked and the building itself looked like a giant warehouse. Black letters with flickering lights read FunSkate. In the corner of the parking lot he was pretty sure he saw two people selling drugs to each other. He scooted a little closer to John. It was the weekend and John had asked Dave to go roller skating with him that night. He agreed but as of now Dave was starting to have second thoughts.

"Are you sure this place is like safe? Am I going to get kidnapped and end up in Nebraska or some shit?"

John laughed. "No, I come here all the time, it's perfectly safe. Come on let's go inside, it's cold out." He opened the door into a small grey room. Along the far wall a counter was spread out. Through a door to the side the sound of music buzzed.

John walked up to the counter where a man sat half asleep at a computer, empty coffee cup beside him. He looked up at the two and studied them for a moment.

"How can I help you tonight?"

"Two passes please. Plus rentals." The man nodded, handing them two wristbands as John reached into his pocket and handed him the money.

Dave spoke up from beside him. "Wait I can pay for myself, I have some cash."

John smiled. "Call it my gift to you. You don't have to pay"

Dave looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah of course."

Dave knew he would never win this battle so he gave up. "If you say so, thanks man"

The two stepped through the door leading into the skating rink. Immediately the smell of sweat and stale popcorn met them as the two entered into the large room. Lockers lined the walls and tables were scattered around the edges of the room, most of them covered in shoes and half empty soda cans. A skate rental sat next to the concession stand. In the middle of the room was a huge rink surrounded by a low wall. A bright disco ball illuminated the floor with flashing lights as young couples and kids skated around in a circle, laughing and smiling. Every now and then a brave soul would skate to the middle and spin around or do some trick before skating back to the edge and rejoin their friends skating in the circle. A mid-thirties man sat in the corner of the rink with a computer and over-sized headphones over his ears, taking requests for songs. Saint motel blared over the speakers.

Dave looked around the place. The lights were dim, but he could probably still see with his shades on. "This looks like it came right out of one of your shitty eighty's movies."

Johns eyes lit up. "I know right? Isn't it so cool! Sometimes they have movie night where everyone dresses up and they play the soundtrack to the movie. You should come one time, we could dress up together!"

Dave rolled his eyes from behind his shades and smirked a little. "As ironic as that would be if I showed up in a full disco costume, I don't think they could handle it. Girls and guys would be falling at my feet left and right, begging me to show off my moves. Full chaos would ensue."

John laughed and the two grabbed their skate rentals from the counter before dumping their stuff on an empty table. Dave sat down and grabbed his skates, hesitantly putting them on. He moved his feet back and forth, feeling the wheels roll against the concrete floor. This was probably going to be harder than it looked in the movies.

"John I feel this may be a good time to tell you that I have never skated before in my entire life."

He froze and looked over at him. "What do you mean? You're telling me this now?"

Dave shrugged. "Bro never took me, might interrupt my ninja training or whatever the fuck he calls it."

John frowned. He wasn't all in favor of Dave's brother but shrugged it off for now. "Well I guess it's never too late to learn." He finished lacing up his skates "I can show you how. It's really not that hard."

He stood up, shaking a little bit before finding his balance. He reached a hand out to Dave, whe hesitantly took it and stood up. "Fuc-" he slipped and waved his arms, nearly hitting a nearly couple before leaning up against the table, barely managing to stay upright on the skates.

"Fuck no no no no. Fuck a bag this was a bad idea."

John looked apologetically over at the couple. "Sorry, he's new to this" before turning back to Dave. "you can't expect to be perfect on your first try, no matter how cool you think you are. Let me show you is to do it."

John lead him through the motions on how to move his feet and stop. When they were both sure they wouldn't fall on their asses the two entered the ring among the people.

"Now the trick is try not to move out of the way of people going faster than you, just keep going and they will move around you."

Dave nodded, focused on moving his feet as he inched across the floor, hand gripped tight in John's hand, who was gliding along beside him. Eventually he learned the movements better and started to speed up a little, growing more confident.

"Do you think you have it?"John asked.

"Yeah I got this shit in the bag."

John let go of his hand, opting instead to glide around him. After a bit of going around in a circle a few times Dave was sure he got it down.

John smirked. "Hey Dave, I bet you can't catch me!"

"You're on Egbert."

The two raced around the ring, chasing each other between people and laughing when they caught up to each other. After a while they grew tired and stopped. They made their way back through the crowds back to their table to check on their stuff and get a quick drink.

"So what do you think of skating now?" John asked as he sat down beside him, a bottle of soda in his hand.

"Better than I originally thought when i'm not trying to fall on my face"

He laughed "I'm glad you like it."

That moment the lights started to dim. Dave looked around. "Whats going on?"

"I think the couples skate is coming up! Do you want to go back on?"

"I don't see why not."

John smiled and grabbed his hand as the rink emptied of kids and people paired up. Thinking Out Loud started to play over the speakers as blue lights flashed from the disco ball. Dave and John joined the rink and skated together in happy silence, enjoying the feeling of each other's hand. After a moment Dave started to hear whispers pointed at them. He glanced around curiously and realized they were one of the only couples in the rink that were of the same gender. He looked over at John but he didn't seem to notice. Dave kept listening to the whispers and felt anger rising in his chest.

"Why are they together?"

"Look at those two."

"Are they gay or what?"

"Why are they holding hands?"

He gripped Johns hand slightly tighter and took a deep breath. Why couldn't they just skate together in peace without being gawked at like they were breaking the law?

John must of noticed as he squeezed his hand. "Hey it's fine. Don't pay attention to them."

"But they just can't go-"

"I know Dave, it's not fair. We can stop if you want."

"No, I want to skate with you. They will just have to deal with it and i'll personally fight all of them if they have any objections"

John smiled"I agree but you probably shouldn't fight them. We can't get kicked out and banned like what happened at the movies that one time"

Dave smirked "If I recall correctly hiding in the trashcans and jumping out at the people coming out of a horror movie was your idea."

John grinned "You were the one that sneaked in that weird Nic Cage mask in and insisted on wearing it"

"It was look on their faces as Nic Cage jumped out at them from a trashcan was priceless."

"Worth getting punched in the gut for?"

"For one that guy was a jerk but yes, it was"

The two laughed as they remembered the moment. Soon the lights come back on and everyone else joined them on the floor as the couple skate ended.

John skated a little bit in front of him. "Watch this Dave, I've been working on it for a while."

He faced Dave and started to skate backwards, moving his feet in and out. "Pretty cool huh? Come on."

He took Dave's hands and pulled him along, still going backwards. Dave felt himself being pulled off balance and he started to correct himself, staggering a little at the speed.

"John don't go so fast unless you want me to fal-"he staggered again. John didn't hear him and laughed, speeding up a little more, glancing over his shoulder. "John-"

Dave felt his skates go out from beneath him and hands pulled away from John's as his face came up to formally meet the wooden floor. His shades slipped off his face, clattering to the ground beside him. John stopped in horror and skated over to kneel down beside him. "Dave, Dave are you alright?" Dave felt something warm beneath his face and he crawled to his knees, quickly grabbing his shades from the ground and sliding them back on his face before anyone noticed. Blood dripped onto the floor and down his face. His nose felt like someone had punched him. He raised a hand to his nose and it came away covered with red.

"Shit."

John gasped at the blood. People skated over, stopping to see what the trouble was and asking if he was alright. A worker, a girl that looked around mid-twentys came out onto the rink and told everyone to back up and give him some space. She glanced over at John.

"Get him off the floor please."

Dave got to his feet but fell to his knees again when he tried to stand, making his eyes water and blood fall onto his shirt. Fuck this was not good. John came up beside him and helped him up, wrapping an arm around his waist. He awkwardly skated him over to their table, talking to him all the way in a worried voice. "Dave! Are you alright? I'm so sorry. I should have stopped."

He collapsed onto a bench and pressed a hand to his nose as John ran off to find napkins. He felt his nose and flinched. It didn't feel broken but still hurt like a bitch.

"Here Dave. Move your hand."

John came back with a stack of napkins and sat down beside him. Dave took the napkins, pressing them to his Letting out a muffled thanks to John.

"Is it broken? Should I call the hospital?"

Dave shook his head and winced as his head pounded. "I'm fine it's not broken."

"How can you tell?" He reached out to touch it but Dave gently pushed his hand away.

"Bro broke my nose once on accident and it hurt like a motherfucker. It was also crooked and I had to realign it myself."

John raised an eyebrow. "You never told me that."

Dave shrugged "It didn't seem important at the time."

John frowned. "Well tell me next time and I can probably have my dad drive you to the hospital."

"Thanks, i'll keep that in mind."

The two sat in quiet, every so often Dave would grab another napkin from the pile. After a few minutes when he was sure the bleeding had stopped he wiped his hands. "Well I guess it finally stopped."

He looked up and saw John trying to hold back tears as he looked at him.

Panic alarms went off in Dave's head. "Woah, what's wrong? Did someone say something?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry I caused you to fall. I should not have been so fast but I got carried away and now you're hurt an-"

Dave cut him off. "Hey calm down for a second. I forgive you, it was an accident. It's just a bloody nose, it happens all the time"

John nodded and sighed. "Ok, i'm sorry. Has your nose stopped bleeding?"

"Yeah, I have a killer headache though."

"How about we leave. You can come to my house if you want. We can watch a movie and you could stay the night."

Dave nodded and smirked a little. "Sounds good as long it's not another one of your shitty Nic Cage movies."

"Come on those are the best and you know it."

"If you say so."

The two undid their skates and returned them, ignoring the questioning looks from the lady over the counter at the blood stains on Dave's shirt and face. The two waited outside, a chill breeze stirring the night air. Dave leaned against the building, reaching over to grab john's hand and pull him closer. John leaned into him a little and shivered from the cold.

"I called my dad, he should be here any minute now."

"Cool." Dave glanced over at him, studying his face before reaching over and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Thanks again."

John blushed in the moonlight. "It-it was no big deal."

"It was for me."

John smiled a little and leaned in towards Dave, just as two headlights drove into the parking lot. John pulled away quickly as a white sedan came to a stop in front of the two.

"Maybe another time." John said, opening the door and climbing in, Dave following him, laughing a little as they drove away into the dark.

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((hello everyone! So this was just a short one shot based off my past experiences at roller rinks. (The roller rink in my town looks and feels like something straight out of Night Vale.) If you liked it don't be afraid to leave a comment. :) If you noticed any errors or didn't like it please tell me why as constructive criticism is always welcome, I hope you all have a great day. :)


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